Will Orlando become home for WWE's Hall of Fame?

SENTINEL EXCLUSIVE

The Undertaker, right, throws Edge out of the ring during Wrestlemania… (RED HUBER, ORLANDO SENTINEL…)

November 11, 2010|By Mark Schlueb, Orlando Sentinel

If you've always longed to see Andre the Giant's size-24 boots or Rowdy Roddy Piper's kilt up close, you may be in luck.

Local leaders are quietly preparing a bid to bring the WWE Hall of Fame to Orlando. If successful, it would bring a new tourist stop filled with decades of memorabilia from the professional wrestling powerhouse.

It's not clear where the hall would be built or where the money to do it would come from, and World Wrestling Entertainment isn't talking. But WWE has solicited proposals for the project from an unknown number of cities, and that solicitation provides a few clues.

WWE executives aren't necessarily looking for a location that has a significant connection to wrestling. Putting the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., limited the number of visitors because it's not near a big city or transportation hub, they pointed out. WWE wants a city that already draws a lot of domestic and international tourists.

That sounds a lot like Orlando, Mayor Buddy Dyer said.

"[We have] close to 50 million visitors a year," Dyer said. "I would think they would want to be in a destination city instead of somewhere you are only trying to draw locals."

WWE has a wide and dedicated fan base that doesn't much care whether the matches are real or whether there's really a vicious rivalry between Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H.

Its programming reaches more than 500 million homes in more than 145 countries. In 2008, when Orlando hosted WWE's premiere event — Wrestlemania — 75,000 fans packed the Citrus Bowl, most from out of town.

WWE inducts big names in wrestling into its hall of fame every year and collects memorabilia that diehard fans would love to see. That includes things like Triple H's throne, the Undertaker's trademark hat and gloves, Rey Mysterio's masks and The Rock's elbow pad.

But there's no building where those items can be displayed and the profit-savvy company can charge admission.

Aside from its hosting of Wrestlemania XXIV, Orlando has another connection that could help its bid. John Saboor helped persuade WWE to bring Wrestlemania here when he led the Central Florida Sports Commission.

He has since been hired by WWE as senior vice president of special events, but remains an Orlando booster; his office is downtown. Saboor couldn't be reached for comment.

Saboor's successor, Sam Stark, is leading the effort to bring the Hall of Fame to Orlando on behalf of the Central Florida Sports Commission. Stark said proposals are due by the end of November, but he shared few details.

Dyer and Crotty said they didn't know the preferred site in Orlando, but both said the tourist-heavy International Drive area would be a natural location.

Likewise, the financial details aren't known. WWE seems to be looking for partners to shoulder at least part of the work — and expense.

"WWE is seeking public and/or private partners (may include local and state governmental entities, private-sector funding sources, etc.) to develop, fund and maintain what will be viewed as one of the premier halls of fame in the world of sports and entertainment," the company's solicitation says.

Both Orlando and Orange County have had multiple years of dismal budgets, and hotel taxes have already been tapped to expand the convention center and fund community venues, including the new Amway Center arena.

For now, WWE isn't saying.

"WWE is in the very preliminary stages of evaluating this opportunity, and we have nothing further to report at this time," a spokeswoman said.